The Best Instant Read Thermometers for Your Most Accurate and Quickly Cooked Dishes Yet

How We Tested Instant Read Thermometers

We tried 23 instant read thermometers of all different styles and put their accuracy and speed to the test. Using a sous vide cooker, we heated a water bath to exactly 135 degrees Fahrenheit and noted how long it took each thermometer to register a final reading, as well as how close the reading was to 135. We then repeated the test using boiling water at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. To rate ease of use, we tested by measuring the internal temperature of baked chicken thighs, both inside the hot oven and on the countertop immediately after taking the dish out.

Other Options We Tested

• ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE: This thermometer is known as a favorite of professional chefs and competitive barbecue pitmasters, and it is indeed extremely fast and extremely accurate. It's also extremely expensive, and we found equal or better performance in other, cheaper models.
• Taylor Precision Products Folding Food Thermometer: Taylor's combination infrared and probe thermometer was our top pick for a high-end thermometer, but its low-priced probe-only thermometer did...less well in our tests. It took more than 20 seconds to come to a final reading in some cases, and it doesn't offer anything by way of special features, not even a backlight.
• ThermoPro TPS-02S (2 Pack) Instant Read Meat Thermometer: If you want a digital thermometer in the kitchen, another next to the grill, a third for the smoker, and maybe a spare just in case, you can buy these in bulk. It performed accurately in our tests but took several seconds to deliver a final reading, and it's a very basic design that's not particularly easy to use, but it's a decent thermometer at a very low price.

What to Look for in an Instant Read Thermometer

Temperature Range 

When looking into instant read thermometers, it’s important to know what range of temperatures the thermometer can read. When it comes to cooking meat, there’s a pretty narrow range of temperatures you’ll need to worry about for doneness: 115 to 165 degrees Fahrenheit or so, but if you’re planning to use the thermometer for making candy (up to 300 degrees) or regulating frying oil temperatures (up to 375), a wider range is necessary. A general rule of thumb is that thermometers with a wide temperature range tend to be more reliable but also more expensive.

Digital vs. Analog

Ultimately, this consideration boils down to personal preference. While some cooks like to see the needle on the analog moving, others prefer to see the numbers spelled out (and they’re oftentimes quite large, making them extremely easy to see). One downside to analog thermometers is that they’re typically a dated technology. This means that their probe is often a little bit thicker, which means that every time you probe the meat, you’ll lose more juice to the incision.

Water Resistance

Not all instant read thermometers are completely waterproof, so definitely consider if this feature is important to you. If you’re worried about excessive splashing, heavy steam, or outdoor cooking (i.e. rain), making sure to buy a more completely water-resistant thermometer is important. Obviously the thermometer probe itself can be submerged with any model, but check your manual for the rules about how wet you can get the body of the thermometer. No matter what, it's a bad idea to put the body of the thermometer—or any other piece of electronics—completely underwater.

Price

Like most tools that you can buy for your kitchen, there’s a pretty significant range of prices for instant read thermometers. If you think you’ll be cooking a lot of protein and want to ensure that it’s food-safe and cooked to your desired doneness, or doing a lot of deep-frying, candy-making, or baking, it’s probably worth splurging a little so that you know you’re buying a reliable tool. The topmost thermometers we found in price run around $100, with very, very high-quality ones available for quite a bit less than that.

On the other hand, if you’re simply in need of a tool that will confirm that your Thanksgiving turkey and an occasional roast here and there are fully cooked through, you can get a perfectly good digital instant read thermometer for ten bucks or so.

Types of Instant Read Thermometers

Probe

As the name suggests, a probe thermometer uses a probe—usually a long, narrow tube with a sharp tip—that's inserted directly into the food to measure its temperature. It's perfect for making sure a steak or roast is the exact correct level of doneness but is not very good at measuring surface temperature on a grill or pan, or the ambient temperature in the oven. Because the food has to heat up the probe itself to get a final measurement, some probe thermometers can take longer to deliver a correct reading, though this is not true of all models.

Infrared

Also known as no-contact or thermal radiation thermometers, infrared thermometers analyze the infrared waves emitted by foods, pans, or any other object to gauge their temperature without making any physical contact. Infrared measurements are highly accurate and can be taken essentially instantly, but they can only measure the temperature of surfaces, not the interior of a chicken thigh, ribeye, or thick cut of fish to check doneness. Infrared thermometers are more expensive than probes, but many models combine both types of thermometers in one.

Maintenance & Safety

Calibration is essential to ensure that the temperature readings from your instant read thermometer are accurate. To calibrate your device, place the probe in an ice water bath and make sure that it reads 32°F. Similarly, it should read 212°F in boiling water. If the calibration is off, simply turn off the device or put it back in its case and try again until the reading is correct. If this doesn’t fix the problem, you should double-check the user manual, or you can alternatively have your thermometer serviced (oftentimes by the brand) for a fee. Oftentimes, it is more expensive to service a thermometer than to buy a new one. If the readings are only a few degrees off, you can simply consider this when you are reading the temperatures and adjust accordingly. How precise you need your readings to be will affect how seriously you need to take the calibration.

It’s also important not to subject a thermometer to temperatures over its rated maximum. (This varies by brand but is usually well over 500 degrees.) This can cause digital components to melt and break the thermometer. Because they don't actually touch the hot surface, infrared thermometers can measure much higher temperatures, but the thermometer itself should not be subjected to high heat. If you're measuring temperatures over a hot grill or boiling pot, make sure to use an oven mitt or pot holder to hold the thermometer so you don't burn your hands.

FAQs

How do you use an instant read thermometer? 

While instant read thermometers give the results quickly, they’re not quite instant. Still, they’re fast enough to be inserted into the food, produce a reading, and then quickly be removed. They can be used to read the internal temperature of meats, bread, and other foods, and they can be used to check the temperature of liquids, as well. The thermometer simply needs to be inserted into the food to the proper depth, and then there’s a short wait until the temperature stabilizes. Better-quality thermometers stabilize more quickly, while the less-expensive versions may require a longer wait.

How do you clean an instant read thermometer?

It's important to fully clean the thermometer probe after every use. A simple wipe with hot, soapy water is all it takes, but it's important to be careful with the "body" of the thermometer where the screen and electronics are. Many thermometers call themselves "water-resistant," but it's important to check the manual to see exactly how much water your thermometer can hold up to. Some should only be wiped down with a damp cloth, while others can be rinsed under running water. It's generaly a bad idea to immerse the thermometer electronics completely in water, as any that gets inside the case will destroy the circuitry.

How do you test an instant read thermometer? 

Instant read thermometers can go out of calibration, meaning they won’t be accurate when checking the food’s temperature. Fortunately, they’re easy to test and it doesn’t require any special equipment. The only tools needed are some ice water and some boiling water. At sea level, the thermometer should read 32 degrees Fahrenheit in the ice water and 212 degrees Fahrenheit in the boiling water. For those who live in places that are not at sea level—and even for people who live in high-rise buildings—the boiling water temperature will be lower by 1 degree for every 500 feet. Some thermometers can be recalibrated, but inexpensive ones may not have that feature and should be discarded.

Where is the best place to insert an instant read thermometer in meat?

The point of insertion is less important than where the tip of the thermometer will land. It should be centered in the thickest part of the meat, but not touching bone or thick veins of fat. Some thermometers need to be inserted an inch or two into the meat to read correctly, so they may need to be inserted through the side of a thin piece of meat, or at an angle, so the tip is fully inserted and also in the thickest part of the food.

Why Trust The Spruce Eats?

The Spruce Eats writer Donna Currie knows her way around kitchen gadgets. Even before she started writing about food, she grew up curiously tinkering with everything from garlic presses to food processors. Donna has written countless roundups and reviews for The Spruce Eats, including the best wireless grill thermometers, Thanksgiving gadgets, and more.

Jason Horn, commerce writer for The Spruce Eats, updated this story with insights from our Lab tests. He's been writing about food and drinks for more than 15 years and is proud to have the formulas for converting between Fahrenheit and Celcius memorized.